HILLSBOROUGH CO., Fla. — A Hillsborough County high school teacher pleaded guilty in connection with gun running for a transnational criminal organization in Florida, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.
According to a plea agreement in 2020 and 2021, 46-year-old Shannon Lee Samlalsingh of Tampa purchased several assault rifles, magazine clips, and other firearm components from federally licensed firearms dealers in Hillsborough County and Miami-Dade County. Samlalsingh falsely stated on submitted federal forms that she was the buyer of said firearms while she was receiving money via international wire transfers from members of a Trinidadian transnational criminal organization.
Officials said Samlalsingh received instructions from the criminal enterprise to purchase specific model firearms and firearms components, then transfer them to other members of the organization already in Florida, to then smuggle them back to Trinidad. Officials also said Samlalsingh kept a percentage of the wire transfer funds as compensation, and the firearms were smuggled back in a large wireless speaker and punching bags headed to Trinidad and Tobago.
Samlalsingh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to making false statements to a firearms dealer on Friday, according to officials. She faces up to five years in federal prison.
Her sentencing date has not yet been set.
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